The dwarves drifted down the river, and Aura dove deep down to watch them from underneath. They looked like corks bobbing up and down in the water. She just wanted to get a little closer...
As her head almost touched the surface of the water, she felt something sharp hit her eye and her left wing. More arrows rained down and hit her back right leg and tail. She hissed in pain and rushed to the other end of the stream, taking cover in the trees.
Some of the arrows stung, and seemed to be laced with some sort of poison. She began to feel woozy and she tried to slither back out to the water to wash the poison off.
She didn't quite get there.
The dwarves were just coming on to the beach as well, only a few meters from where Aura was. They were trying to get out of their barrels, talking with each other. They didn't even notice Aura trying to keep conscious.
One of them was not talking. He was very small, and very shy. he only stood by, watching the scene. He was playing with a ring in his hand.
As he was looking at them, he finally noticed Aura in the distance. Aura looked at them, struggling to get back to the cover of the trees since she would surely drown in the water, unable to swim. Though the purebred water dragons could breathe underwater, she did not have that ability.
The small dwarf's eyes widened, then he snuck away from the rest of the group, and vanished. Aura looked for him, panicked that she was starting to hallucinate on the poison.
Her nostrils picked up a new scent, although diluted, it was close. It was earthy, different from the metallic smell of the dwarves who she could barely smell. As soon as it came, it vanished, and again she struggled to get back to the trees.